Look Alive, Sunshine
by FreeBirdy
Summary: Draco's always seen Rayna as an equal; a fellow Slytherin, as pure-blooded and obnoxious as himself. So what happens when Rayna develops feelings for him, feelings Draco can't understand much less return? A twisted up fairytale.
1. Chapter 1

Ooh, new story! My first story on this website :) Hope you like it; this is a pretty basic first chapter. You know, first introductions and stuff. Read and review? Thanks!

**1: Crime Scene**

I'm sitting in Compartment 11 of the famous Hogwarts Express with Joslynn Reinhardt. Now this girl is nothing like me. In a way, she's my most loved friend and my most hated enemy. Jos, as I call her, was sorted into Gryffindor in her first year. She's the most caring person I know, loyal, and friends with people I hate.

I was placed into Slytherin due to the fact that I was "ambitious, absolutely requiring everything that I ever wanted," as the Sorting Hat pronounced. It also told me that I could get "vicious, especially when I got upset or angry."

"So, how was your summer?" Jos asked, peeling her eyes away from the window.

"It was fine, I guess. Mother took me up to France for a trip to Paris."

"What about your father?"

I shook my head, "He didn't want to come. But it was still nice there. I'm kinda thinking maybe I'll live in France when I grow up and get out of this bloody school."

"You don't speak French." Jos pointed out.  
>"Yeah, so?" I rolled my eyes.<p>

Jos laughed, "I expected nothing less."

Before I could even bother to ask Jos about how her summer went, I heard the door of the compartment slide open.

I recognized that pale skin and steely, grey eyes immediately.

Draco Malfoy spoke, "Why are you with Reinhardt again? You told me you weren't friends anymore."  
>"Maybe I lied to get you off my back about it." I retorted.<p>

He glared, "Maybe I don't like being lied to."

"Maybe I don't care." I snapped, meeting his cold stare.

"I think I'll go," Jos interrupted with obvious contempt in her voice. She stood up abruptly and fixed her own apathetic stare at Draco. "It's crystal clear that he doesn't want me here."

Jos took off without another word. This was what made our relationship more complicated than it should be. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving me alone with Draco.

"What do you want?" The tone of my voice wasn't exactly warm, but it wasn't dripping of ice either. Sometimes I liked just being in Draco's presence.

"Not much," He replied, surprisingly without too much harshness, "Just got sick of Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. They argue way too much."

Draco sat down across from me, directly underneath where my trunk sat on the luggage rack. A white head popped out of my trunk, filled with my robes and Hogwarts books of all sorts, and of course, my dear ferret. During my first year at Hogwarts, I had watched all my friends and other classmates play with their pets. I complained to my parents about how much I wanted a pet like them and the next year, my mother let me have one. So I bought a ferret.

"Rayna, what are you looking at?"

My eyes had wandered to the white ferret. The one with 3 black spots that flawed its snow white coat; one on its back, its left ear, and its right leg. He scurried precariously along the side of my trunk, dropped to the railing of the luggage rack, and then once again on top of Draco's head.

"Draco!" I tried to warn him.

"What the-" His hands automatically reached for his head, scrabbling to remove the ferret. But Azrael sunk his claws in deeper, trying desperately not to be thrown off only to no avail. With the chaos that Draco was causing, he slipped off of his sleek blond hair and tumbled onto the empty seat.

"Bloody hell! That ferret tried to murder me!" Draco shouted, looking very disheveled.

"Azrael was only trying to get down!" I protested, reaching over to pick him up gently. I reached into my pocket where I always kept a few ferret treats for him and fed Azrael one.

"I've always hated that thing."

Azrael growled as if admitting that he didn't like Draco either.

"Well, he doesn't like you either so I guess you two are even." I scratched him behind the ears and smiled fondly down at him.

Draco turned away, disgusted.

Eventually, Azrael got bored and slinked out my lap to wander around the compartment.

I kept a close eye on him to make sure I didn't lose him and that he wouldn't attack Malfoy either. When I was convinced that Azrael had settled himself down into a cozy nook to nap, I asked Draco, "How's life?"

He took a minute to answer but finally said, "Not too bad. Besides the fact that I'm heading back to _Hogwarts_." He spoke its name with evident dislike.

"A school full of uptight teachers, Mudbloods, and blood traitors? I've heard."

"Father wanted to send me to Durmstrang; they don't admit Mudbloods there, you know?"

"Well, why didn't you go?" I asked.

Draco scowled, "My mother didn't like the idea of me going far away to study."

I felt something wrong as I looked out the window again. The scenery wasn't passing by anymore. "Um…is it just me or has the train stopped?"

"…It's stopped." Draco stared out the window. "Ugh, what is this? More dementors just like last year?"

"Maybe Potter will faint again." I pointed out the incident from our third year. "That'd be a good show."  
>"Ha, precious little Harry Potter gets light-headed over a couple of dementors."<p>

I was still smirking about that when the door to the compartment slid open once again.

"E-excuse me? Are you Rayna Alma?" The man was short and stocky and by the way he dressed, I figured he was the conductor of the Hogwarts Express. For such a strong-looking build though, he spoke with quite a small, hesitant voice. "I was informed that I would find you in this compartment."

"Yes, I'm Rayna. Why?" I asked warily. I didn't usually take well to authority figures, especially ones that asking for specifically me. That usually meant I was in trouble.

"I have some unfortunate news. You see, the train has stopped."

"Oh, really?" Draco cut in. Sarcasm colored his lips.

The conductor flushed and I saw him start to fidget with his hands. Personally, I don't think he enjoyed his job very much. "Uhm, yes, it has stopped because somebody blew up the engine."

"I thought the engine ran on magic." I said.

"It does but magic has nothing to run if the engine is broken. And if the engine is broken, the train will not move."

"Well, I figured that much. But what does this have anything to do with me?"

"This young girl," The conductor stepped aside, revealing a pretty girl with eyes narrowed and a smug look on her face. Once I recognized Pansy Parkinson, I knew where this was going, "claims that you are the culprit."

"Of course she does." I muttered under my breath. Then in a louder voice, I said, "What if it wasn't me?"

Pansy spoke, stopping the conductor in his tracks of answering, "I know it was you; I even saw you blow the thing up. And of course, _I_ never lie."

"Except for now you're lying." I pointed out.

I stole a quick glance at Draco. He was sitting, pretty relaxed, with a look on his face that simply said _this-is-interesting._

"Miss Alma, if I may, can I see your wand?" The conductor asked. He had moved on from fidgeting with his fingers and was now pulling at his hat.

A look of alarm passed across Pansy's face. If the conductor managed to pull out the last spell my wand had performed, I would be proved innocent. The smug look on Pansy's face had now transferred to my own.

The second my hand twitched towards my wand, Pansy started her hopeless babbling, "Uh…how dare you question me? I told you I was telling the truth and you have the nerve to ask her for her wand like you don't believe me?"

"W-well, it's just I-I need solid evidence that Rayna has committed the crime." The conductor stammered, intimidated by Pansy's tone of voice.

"Here you go." I handed him my wand; made of Hawthorn wood with a dragon heartstring core and precisely 11 inches long.

He placed the tip of his own wand on mine and whispered, "_Prior Incantato,_" Then he slowly drew his wand away from mine and the misty image of a swirl of water was lured out the tip of my wand. It looped around both wands before evaporating into the air.

"It seems that Aguamenti was the last spell you used. Proves you innocent seeing as that couldn't possibly blow up an engine."

As he handed me back my wand, I glanced around for Pansy. But she had already disappeared. I rolled my eyes; Pansy always giving up when she knew she was going to lose.

I had one last question for the conductor, "While you go and blame other people, you do have someone fixing the train, right?"

"Oh, uhm, yes. Of course we do. We should be up and running shortly."

"Sure." I muttered before slamming the door shut again.

"That was…quite entertaining." Draco remarked.

"I'll take that as a compliment so thank you, Draco. Do anything fun over the summer?"

"Our family went to the Quidditch World Cup. My father, with his position at the Ministry, got us tickets for the top box with the Minister himself." Draco's voice had been tinged with pride but dropped to bitter resentment, "Only Potter was there with the Weasleys, and that Mudblood Granger."

"Ha, that must've ruined your day. But I'm still jealous. I'd rather have gone to the Quidditch World Cup than Paris, even though it was wonderful there."

"You hate Quidditch."

"I hate _playing_ Quidditch,"

"'Cause you have the athletic ability of a slug," Draco interrupted.

I reached over with my hand to where he was sitting and whacked him on the head. He let slip an "ow" and rubbed his head while I continued, "But _watching_ Quidditch is fun."

About 20 minutes later, the Hogwarts Express gave a mighty blow of its horn and set off again, better than ever. I heard in the halls that some first year tried to impress their friends by showing them that he could perform magic only failed disastrously at it. He blew up the engine instead.

_Prat._


	2. Chapter 2

Second chapter! It's not too exciting…yet. :) But anyways, I have important things to announce. The character of Joslynn Reinhardt belongs to one of my best friends, Macie! :D So no stealing from her. And no stealing Rayna Alma, who is my character.

I DON'T own anything Harry Potter; I don't own Draco or Crabbe or Goyle or Pansy or Harry or Ron or Hermione or Dobby. Nothing like that. That all belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling.

Read and review, please! Thanks! ^-^ Hope you like it.

**2: Triwizard Tournament**

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade an hour later than scheduled. Draco had long returned back to his own compartment and Jos had come back to sit with me.

I woke Azrael who had slept through the majority of the train ride. He clambered up my arm and wrapped his long, white body around my neck. I always wondered how he managed it without falling down.

After getting off the train, I gazed up at Hogwarts in the distance. "Fourth year this time. I am more than halfway finished with this school." I murmured.

"Unlike you, I actually like Hogwarts. I'm going into my fifth year and I'm already dreading the time when I finally have to say good-bye."

"Come on," I motioned Jos over to an empty carriage. I let her climb up first as I stared at the invisible thestrals who would be pulling us up to Hogwarts. "I know this sounds bad, but I want to be able to see a thestral one day."

"Then you have to watch someone die firsthand."

"That's why it's bad." I pointed out, scrambling into the carriage myself.

"I can see them." Jos said suddenly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"The thestrals?"

It was a moment before she gave a hesitant nod.

I wanted to know more, only Jos added quickly, "But I don't wanna talk about it. It's a long story for some other time."

I gave her a sympathetic look before the carriage door swung open. I found myself staring at a little girl who was probably in her second year. I had never seen her before with her long brown hair and clear hazel eyes.

"I'm sorry but I don't have a seat and I was wondering if I could sit with you guys."

"No, get lost." I automatically replied.

She looked hurt in the semi-darkness of the setting sun, "But, please-"

"Go!" I commanded.

"Wait!" Jos called out, "It's okay; you can sit here. Rayna didn't mean anything; she's just naturally vicious."

The little girl looked around. The thestrals were starting to get restless; we would be departing up to Hogwarts soon. She had no other choice but to warily climb into our carriage. Jos tried to be nice during the ride by posing small talk questions to the girl. However, she answered them with a tint of fear in her voice, as if afraid of what I might do to her if I knew her identity.

Just like every year, the prefects led us into the Great Hall where we all filled the four, grand House tables. I bid good-bye to Jos as she meandered her way to the Gryffindor table and I plopped myself down at the Slytherin table. Almost immediately after, one of my fellow House friends sat down next to me, Adelia Price. She didn't approve of me half the time, sorta like Jos, and refused to let me be mean to people in front of her. Adelia was actually well-mannered, taking her schoolwork very seriously, and not running around with the bullies of our house.

"Hey Rayna," She smiled sweetly at me.

"Adelia, you cut your hair." Her signature long, dirty blonde curls had been chopped off just at shoulder level.

"I know. Over the summer, it just got _too_ long and it was bothering me all the time so one day I just got it all cut off. Anyways, where were you? I couldn't find you on the train."

"Maybe 'cause I was avoiding you." I muttered to myself, turning away from her. Sometimes Adelia did get on my nerves. She could get _too_ happy-go-lucky to the point where on the train, I spotted her in a compartment giving a bunch of first years advice. Personally, I'd much rather hang out with Jos, even though she's a Gryffindor, than Adelia.

"What did you say?" She asked when I didn't answer her question.

"Oh, nothing. I just…couldn't find you either."

Fortunately, before Adelia could push me any further with her questions, Dumbledore rose from his seat and spoke, "Welcome to Hogwarts, or should I say to the older students, welcome back! Now, for our first years, this is the first time that they will experience the true joy of learning magic! Before we proceed however, the first years need to be sorted into one of the four Houses we have here at Hogwarts. Perhaps you'll be in the brave Gryffindor or the loyal Hufflepuff. However, you might also fit the witty Ravenclaw or the cunning Slytherin." A cheer from each of the houses rose as their name was mentioned, "Who knows? Why the Sorting Hat, of course!" With a wave of his hand, a stool with the Sorting Hat perched upon it appeared.

Without warning, the magical hat burst into song. I barely understood what it was saying and I didn't really care. The sorting was pretty boring; I clapped half-heartedly whenever someone was placed in Slytherin.

I zoned in and out for the rest of Dumbledore's speech about setting our mind to achieve great goals and blah, blah, blah.

I heard a huge gasp behind me, "Rayna, did you hear that? That's so exciting!" Adelia whispered in my ear.

"What? Hear what?"

"We're hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year!"

From that point on, I started listening, "This tournament pits three different magic schools together in a friendly competition for eternal glory! Win this tournament and you will be widely honored! However to win, a wizard or witch will have to pull together immense strength and quick thinking to complete three tasks! Difficult tasks, might I add."

The whole hall burst into ecstatic conversations; who was going to enter, what the tasks will be, who the other schools will be, and when it was all going to happen. However, the whole hall was met with disappointment when Dumbledore announced, "We will discuss this more later, around Halloween time. Now, let us feast in tribute to the new year!"

Food magically popped onto our tables. I piled my plate with delicious delicacies and ate to my heart's content.

After finishing dinner, Dumbledore rose to speak again, "Off to bed now! It is quite late due to our delay in arrival and classes begin tomorrow!"

I followed Adelia down to the dungeons where the Slytherin dormitories were.

By the time I woke up the next morning, there was nobody left in my dorm. I groaned; why didn't anybody ever take the time to wake me up? I was probably already late for class.

I stretched and raised my arms up, stopping to examine the ring on my right hand. It wasn't some kind of powerful, magical ring. It was just something that my mother had custom made for me during my first year at Hogwarts; a little silver ring with a pearl of deep green, pure emerald, and coiled around it was a little silver snake. Inscribed on the inner band was the one word, "Slytherin." I guess my parents were super proud when I got sorted into Slytherin.

Reluctantly, I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. I headed down to the Great Hall to see if breakfast was still being served. Luckily, I had about 20 minutes before class was to start. As I was eating, Professor Snape appeared behind me and shoved a piece of parchment in my face, "The last schedule to deliver is yours, Miss Alma." He said in his usual nasally, monotonous voice.

"Hey, thanks." I said, gulping down some scrambled egg. He marched off with a sour look on his face, which didn't surprise me. Professor Snape _was_ one of my favorite teachers, as well as being my Head of House, but he was always cranky.

I let loose a disappointed sigh, "History of Magic class? Well, I do need a nap." History of Magic was one of the most boring, pointless courses there was. I got there pretty early; only half the seats in the classroom had been occupied. I sat myself down at an empty table and pulled out my textbook. I was absentmindedly playing with the pages when I felt someone sit down next to me.

"Nott," I said indifferently once I placed the tall, lanky figure.

"Hello Rayna. Long time, no see, huh?" He smirked.

"It's only been a summer. Definitely not long enough seeing as I don't feel very pleased to see you again."

"Well, I see you haven't changed. And might I say, I'm delighted to see you again."  
>"Can you move away from me?" I asked, gesturing to some random empty seat.<p>

He stood, and settled down at a table a few rows in front of me. Turning around, Nott added, "I knew nothing would annoy you more than hearing me say that."

"Face the front of the class, Mr. Nott." I imitated a teacher and fixed a glare on him.

When he wasn't looking anymore, I smiled lightly to myself, "He's right; nothing does annoy me more."  
>"Nott's a clever one," I gave a start from the voice that spoke behind me.<p>

I let out a sigh of relief when I realized it was only Draco, along with Crabbe and Goyle. "Where did you come from?"

"The hallway," Draco replied, taking the seat where Nott had been sitting before. His lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle, sat down at the table behind us.

Suddenly, the classroom door whooshed shut with a bang and Professor Binns materialized through the door. Like, literally _through_ the door. For some reason, he had it shut and then decided to walk through it.

"Hello students." Professor Binns swished up to his desk in the front of his ancient, dusty classroom. "Today we will be talking about the Goblin Rebellions. There were many scattered throughout history and they were all gruesome. Many of them occurred due to the fact that…" And the rest was all a blur. I remember glancing up at the clock every few seconds to see how many more minutes I had to suffer. Then I remember trying to think if there was some spell that caused time to move faster. And finally, after what seemed like 71 years, we were dismissed.

It was the first day of classes and I was already wishing for Christmas break. I stepped out into the courtyard, roused by the gleaming sun and the slight breeze that ruffled my hair. I felt much better now and more awake, not being stuffed into a classroom that was filled with the words of a lifeless teacher. Literally.

"Nice, isn't it?" The voice of my best friend echoed behind me.

"Yeah; I'm heading down to Care of Magical Creatures right now. What are you doing here?"

"Shortcut to Charms." Jos replied, fiddling with the books in her bag and coming to stand beside me.

A floor plan of Hogwarts suddenly appeared in my mind. "Uhm…how exactly is this a shortcut to Charms?"

Jos shrugged, "I don't know…yet."

I laughed, "I'll see you later, 'kay?"

"Yeah, see ya later," Jos departed to the left while I kept on going straight down to where Hagrid's hut stood in the distance.


	3. Chapter 3

A little more excitement in this chapter! Haha, read and review, please! I beg of you, lol. Now that I'm done writing this chapter, I think I'm gonna go play some games. XD Hope you like it; enjoy! =)

By the way, I own nothing from the Harry Potter books, including the newspaper article from the Daily Prophet that I used in here. But no stealing Rayna! And don't take Jos either, who is my best friend Macie's character in this story. Is that it? Yeah, okay, bye!

**3: That White Ferret**

"Now class; I have a year-long project for yer. We're going ter be takin' care of these here creatures." Hagrid cracked open a crate full of the most repulsive creatures I'd ever seen, all piled on top of each other. They had pale bodies that oozed out some weird goo, and numerous legs that stuck out at awkward angles. "I call them Blast-Ended Skrewts. Bred 'em myself."

Suddenly, one of the Skrewts' ends shot fiery sparks and was instantly propelled forward. The whole class, made up of Slytherins and Gryffindors, simultaneously jumped backwards in alarm. "S'okay," aHa

Hagrid reassured, though not convincingly, "they do that quite often. Anyway, we're going ter be raisin' 'em through the year. There's not much ter do wit' them today except ter feed 'em."

"What do they eat?" Someone called out from the back.

"Not sure yet. But for now, we'll be givin' them lettuce to start with."

We all spread out and Hagrid gave us each a Skrewt and some leaves of lettuce. "Yer have to be careful of their stingers. Though they're young at this poin', it can still hurt ya."

I gave mine a disdainful look as it skittered around awkwardly, unable to balance on its crooked legs. Reluctantly, I held out a piece of lettuce. It automatically leapt up and grabbed the leaf viciously from me, ripping it up with its teeth that I had not noticed it before. It wasn't too long before somebody yelled, "Ow! It bit me!"

"Oh yeah, they bite too 'specially when they're real hungry." Hagrid added as he strolled around, checking up on everyone.

"These things are bloody disgusting," I murmured when Hagrid was out of earshot.

"Tell me about it." Draco answered back as he desperately tried to keep his fingers out of the creature's teeth from my side, "Wait until my father hears about what this oaf has us 'learning.' It's ridiculous."

"Oi!" The Skrewt, getting impatient with me, decided to take a bite out of the lettuce leaves I had been holding. Unfortunately, it also tore into the flesh on the side of my hand.

"Don' be gettin' distracted, Miss Alma," Hagrid said, coming to dislodge the monster from my skin. "Focus on feedin', now."

"What about my hand?" It had distinct bite marks on it that were leaking of blood.

"It's jus' a scratch."

"No, it's not!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Hagrid protested, but his voice held a brink of nervousness. I could tell he still remembered Buckbeak from last year.

Frustrated, I thrust the rest of the shredded leaves at the Skrewt and watched it devour them as I clutched my hand because it really did hurt.

Luckily, I did have a break after this class. I marched back up to the main castle, feeling irritable. A group of first and maybe second years were situated in the middle of the courtyard. "Move!" I said, and pushed them aside. There was a chorus of "ow's" as they were shoved into each other.

"Hey, you!" One bold girl yelled.

When I turned around, I realized it was that little girl from the carriage ride last night. She recognized me too and faltered in her words which were now spoken with less confidence, "That w-wasn't nice!"

"Look, little girl, leave me the hell alone or I will hex the daylights out of you." And she scattered, along with the rest of her friends.

"It's fun when you get all feisty."

"Okay, Draco, you always randomly appear from somewhere." I met his gaze from across the courtyard where he stood in the archway.

"I know." He replied, as I turned to keep on going, "Where are you going?"

"Hospital wing." I responded without stopping, leaving Draco behind. The infirmary was empty when I stepped in. I'd only been in once before in my first year when somebody broke my wrist while we were dueling; it had been some hex gone wrong. "Madam Pomfrey?"

She appeared out of her office, "What is it?"

"I was bitten by a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

"A what?"

I held out my hand and she examined it, "Some monster that Hagrid has bred for our Care of Magical Creatures class."

Madam Pomfrey drew out her wand and gently siphoned off the excess blood around the wound. After it was cleaned, two jagged lines appeared on the edge of my hand, one on either side. "It doesn't look too bad. I'll just wrap it up for now." After my hand was bandaged, she dismissed me, "Come back if it starts to hurt a lot. Now, off to class!"

Since my break wasn't over yet, I headed back to the Slytherin common room to try and get started on my History of Magic essay. It was abandoned and I enjoyed the extra peace and quiet.

The rest of the week passed without anything notably interesting happening. Actually, it wasn't until the week before Halloween did anything remotely entertaining occur.

Lunch was nearly over. I had finished early and was now talking with Jos who had come late from trying to catch up in all her prep work for her O.W.L.S.

After Jos swallowed the first gulp of her meal, she told me, "Sit down."

"I don't think sitting at the Gryffindor table when I'm a Slytherin works."

"Nobody will notice. The table's mostly empty anyways."

"True," So I took a seat on the bench, leaning my back against the table and sticking out my feet just in time to trip a first year Hufflepuff.

"Is it really that hard to be nice once in a while?" Jos asked, taking note of my behavior.

"I'm not all bad; these are just little trivial things that we'll look back at and laugh about later on. And you can be mean sometimes too."

"Well…I guess I can be." Jos admitted, and then dug right back into her food. "But still, it wouldn't hurt to be nice once in a while…"

I was intent on tripping more people until I heard the oh-so-familiar voice of Draco, "Hey Weasel-be! See the paper today?"

Ron, Hermione, and Harry had been heading towards the courtyard but stopped in their tracks, looking pretty peeved. "What, Malfoy?" Ron yelled back.

"What's in the paper today?" I asked Jos.

"Don't know but this is going to get ugly." She replied.

Draco unfolded a copy of The Daily Prophet in his hand, and held it up in front of himself dramatically. He cleared his throat in one obnoxious noise and then started to read, "_The Ministry, recently under fire for the 'Dark Mark' incident at the Quidditch World Cup, plunged into deeper blunders with the antics of Arnold Weasley, __of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Yesterday, he was found to be involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon his arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene._"

I watched Ron continually clench and unclench his fists in anger the whole time Draco was reading. Harry and Hermione looked extremely upset as well.

I saw Ron subtly reach into his robes and pull out his wand. Draco didn't notice this as he was too busy insulting the trio with Crabbe and Goyle. Quickly, Ron raised his wand to hex him. In that same instant, Hermione yelled, "Don't!" while I whipped out my own wand. "Expelliarmus!" I said, pointing it at Ron's hand and successfully disarming him.

"Rayna!" Jos cried, shooting out of her own seat. "Those are my friends!"

I defended myself, "Sorry, force of habit!"

Suddenly, wands were out everywhere. I felt something hot graze the side of my arm. I was about to shoot a curse back at Ron who had recovered his wand, but another hex flew past behind him. A snowy-white ferret appeared right where Draco had once been standing. My jaw dropped, "Draco!"

"He get you?" It was the voice of Mad-Eye Moody.

"Uhm, no, Professor." Harry said.

"Leave him!" Moody's voice was back up to full volume. By now, it felt like half the school had gathered around us.

"Leave what?" Harry asked.

"Not you! Him!" He gestured towards Crabbe who had inched towards the white ferret.

Moody flourished his wand again and pointed it at the ferret, "I hate people like you. You scummy, filthy, bloody little coward! How dare you attack someone when their back is turned?"

The ferret squeaked in terror and tried to scurry away, "Oh no you don't!" Moody shouted and raised his wand, the ferret going up with it, "Never – do – that – again!" With every word, he brought the ferret crashing down to the floor and then back up abruptly. It squealed in pain and terror.

I finally broke through my silence and demanded, "Stop it! You're hurting him!"

Before Moody could respond or transfigure me into some other animal, another voice came from behind the crowd, "Professor Moody, what-what are you doing?" The students parted to reveal Professor McGonagall.

"Teaching," He raised his wand once more and swung it in my general direction, "Here, if you care about him so much." With one flick of his wrist, Moody deposited the ferret into my hands. I could feel it shivering against me. It felt so weird and disturbing, knowing I was holding Draco Malfoy in ferret form.

"Is-is that a student?" Professor McGonagall asked, finally catching on. I bent down and let the ferret slink out of my hands onto the stone floor. Then, I stood back as Professor McGonagall waved her wand. There was a loud BANG and a heap of Draco reappeared on the ground, pink in the face with his signature blond hair a mess. "We _never_ use Transfiguration as a punishment!" Professor McGonagall managed weakly, "Surely Dumbledore must've mentioned that…"  
>"It might've slipped my mind," Moody replied, scratching his chin sheepishly, "I just thought that a good, sharp shock would-"<p>

"We give detentions, or talk to their Head of House!"

"Fine then; I'll do just that." Moody pointed at me and Draco, "Two detentions; Thursday and Saturday! Arrive promptly at 8PM."

For a second, I thought I'd heard him wrong, "Wait, me? I did nothing wrong."

"Leave it," Jos hissed in my ear, knowing that I'd probably get myself into more trouble.

"From what I saw, Miss Alma, you started quite a ruckus when you first disarmed this young lad," Moody gestured to Ron who was standing there with a smirk on his face. "causing everybody to break out their own wands."

"_You_ started quite a ruckus when you turned Draco into a ferret," The words were out my mouth before I could even think about it.

"That's enough, Miss Alma," Moody snarled, "I'll give you and Malfoy detention for another week if you keep it up."  
>I didn't want to give it a rest though. Mad-Eye Moody has no authority over me, "But-"<p>

"Shut up, Rayna!" Draco spat. "Don't get us in any more trouble."

"Fine." I whirled around and stalked off towards the dungeon, seething about Mad-Eye Moody. Soon after, I felt Draco following me. The first thing he said to me once he caught up, "My father will hear about this!"


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for taking so long to update! I promise to try harder to update faster :) Anyways, hope you like this chapter! Read and review, please! I beg of you :D

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series or anything like that; it all belongs to our Queen Rowling, lol. But I do own Rayna and my best friend, Macie owns Jos.

Enjoy!

**4: Detention #1**

It had been a long day. I had woken up late because for some reason, the people in my dormitory never chose to rouse me. Fortunately, my first class had been Potions and Snape wouldn't give me a detention. I fell asleep in History of Magic after that. And then, for the rest of the day I was constantly fighting off Peeves and trying to get my homework load under control. Even though we were supposed to take our O.W.L.S next year, all the teachers were trying to "prepare" us.

Jos slammed her fist on the table all of a sudden. We were sitting in the library, poring over books and attempting to complete homework. "Ugh! I can't figure out what year this goblin rebellion happened!" She cried, frustrated.

I frowned, "Uhm…that's probably because you're looking in my Potions textbook."

She scowled, "Oh; sorry."

"I think you need to relax. It's only the beginning of the year anyways." I said, taking the book away from her and plopping it back into my bag.

"I just want to get good marks on my O.W.L.S."

"Since when did you care about getting good grades? You turned in an essay written on a napkin once."

Jos laughed, "I remember that; I totally forgot so in the morning, I just scrawled it on a napkin at breakfast. Professor Snape wouldn't accept it though."

I smiled in amusement before turning back to my own work. It wasn't long before Jos freaked out again, except this time it was something different. "Rayna!"  
>"What?" I said, alarmed.<p>

"It's 7:57 PM."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Your detention!"

I jumped up and immediately started shoving all my books and papers and quills into my bag. "I totally forgot that was tonight! I gotta go now, bye!"

"You're welcome, by the way!" Jos yelled after me as I took off without another word. I saw the exit to the library and was about to burst out when Madam Pince, the librarian, suddenly appeared in front of me.

"No running in the library, and keep your voices down!" She scolded. "Do you want to disturb every living being in here, yelling across the library?"

"Well I gotta go to detention and I'm late so bye!" I cut across her and dashed off again. I got the feeling that I wasn't going to make in time since I had to run halfway across the school and up a tower to get to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. When I finally burst through the door, Draco was already sitting there, lounging in a chair in the second row.

"You're late! It's 8:01." Moody claimed.

"Sorry, but it's only a minute." I mumbled.

"When you've been an Auror for as long as I have, you'll learn that every minute counts. Now, sit!" He put me in front of Draco, and then plunged straight into our punishment. "For this detention, you two will sit here."  
>"Sit here?" Draco sounded doubtful.<p>

"Yes, sit here." Moody repeated, "You may not talk, you may not pass notes, you may not do homework, you may not perform magic. All you can do is sit here."

So after about five minutes, I realized just how tired I was. I had sat in the library for over an hour with Jos, trying to help her with her O.W.L.S prep work while at the same time, doing my own homework. I cradled my head on the desk in my arms; maybe if I just closed my eyes for one minute…

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody bellowed. I jumped so hard; I almost tipped my chair over. "You may not sleep either!"

I immediately perked up and muttered a curse under my breath. But when Moody asked me if I had something to say, I simply dropped eye contact and murmured "Nothing." The next 20 minutes was pure agony. I spent the majority of it counting the seconds on the clock and wishing I was anywhere but in detention. Fortunately, someone knocked on the door and Professor Moody was forced to step outside to talk to whoever it was.

Promptly, I whirled around to face Draco, "Kill me now."

"I can do that."

"If boredom doesn't kill me first." I groaned.

Draco agreed, "I know and it's only been a little more than 20 minutes. That's 40 more minutes to suffer through."

"And another hour on Saturday." I pointed out. "Moody hates us."

"Well, you know, he's just an old nut. Thinks we're dark wizards or something."

I rolled my eyes, but then I started to smile. Draco took notice, "What?"  
>I pursed my lips, "You were kinda cute as a ferret. Looked sort of like Azrael."<br>"You said you wanted me to kill you earlier?" Draco said coldly, his face still heating up anyways.

I scoffed, "Like you could actually kill anyone."

"You don't know what I'm capable of." He retorted.

"Stop acting so tough. I've known you for four years; I get you're obnoxious and mean but you would never kill someone for real."

"First of all, when we first met…I hated you." Draco stated blatantly, "And then in our second year, I still hated you."

"I still don't know how but you turned my hair into snakes that year."

"That was funny until you made them bite me."

"Like I wasn't going to get revenge. And then after that, you didn't seem to hate me anymore."

Draco shrugged, "I figured you were okay."

I felt a little disappointed but since this was Draco, I guessed this was the best I could get.

The door burst open again and Moody strode back down the aisle to the front of the room. When he passed me, he said curtly, "Turn around, Miss Alma." I watched as Moody's crazy eye swiveled around to the clock face on the wall, "Another half hour and then you're free."

Well, the next half hour took an eternity to pass. Worst detention ever; I much preferred it when teachers made me sort stuff or write an essay or something. What made it worse was I could feel Draco's eyes from behind me the whole time and it gave me the chills. I tried not to think about it and buried myself in thoughts that didn't occupy him. The clock chimed, startling me, but at least the hour was up and we were freed.

I was the first to admit, "Well, that sucked."

Draco was pretty cranky about it too, "Oh, really? I swear my father will hear about this. If you ask me, it's all just Dumbledore's fault. That old lunatic isn't even fit to be in charge of this school; what with hiring people like Mad-Eye Moody. There's a reason they call him Mad-Eye."

I wasn't exactly listening; I was used to Draco venting to me and usually it was always the same, bitter things. There were always yucky teachers or annoying students or something with Dumbledore. "I have so much homework to do."

"Yeah, same here." But the look on Draco's face told me his mind was somewhere far away.

Draco stayed with me in the Slytherin common room so we could both finish our homework. The last time I spotted on the clock was midnight and by then, everyone else had already gone down to their dorms.

I woke up, curled up in my chair, the table in front of me littered with papers, quills, and textbooks. Draco had fallen asleep across from me with his head in his arms on the table. I smiled when I realized how adorable he looked.

"You two have fun last night?" Blaise Zabini came up from the boys' dormitories. The smug look on his face told me there was another meaning to that sentence.

I scowled and sighed, "Don't even." But even as Blaise walked away, I knew he was just going to spread rumors about me and Draco. It's what Blaise did best. I ruffled Draco's hair to wake him while cleaning up the mess we made.

As Draco groggily lifted his head, I said, "Class in 10 minutes; we have Care of Magical Creatures." He groaned but eventually picked himself up as we hurried down to Hagrid's hut. Over the month, the Skrewts that we'd been taking care of had steadily grown larger. They were almost two feet in length now and had started to grow scaly, gray armor over their pale bodies. Either way, they were still disgusting and I still wanted to murder mine. Hagrid told us they had been getting restless in their cages so today we would have to walk them.

I had trouble trying to get the leash around the Skrewt and Hagrid eventually got frustrated with me and did it for me. As I pulled the Skrewt around with me, it was none other than Pansy Parkinson who confronted me, "What happened between you and Draco last night?" She looked obviously distressed about this.

"We were just doing homework, okay? Whatever Blaise told you, isn't true. Don't let the rumors get to your shallow, little head." I scoffed.

"Stay away from my Draco! He doesn't need to be getting mixed up in filth like you."

I narrowed my eyes and was about to make a smart comment back but my Skrewt started acting up. Sparks shot out from the Skrewt's end and I got propelled in the other direction from Pansy with it.

Pansy and her group of friends started laughing as I landed on the ground with a hard thud, desperately trying to get my Skrewt back under control.

I guess she won this little battle but I wasn't going let her win the war. Like it or not, I wanted Draco Malfoy as much as she did.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey der! :D Okay, so I changed Lana's name to Adelia just cuz I thought it was prettier ;) Other than that, nothing else to report. Oh, I don't own anything that rightfully belongs to JK Rowling. And um, read and REVIEW!

**5: Detention #2**

The next day after my first detention with Mad-Eye Moody, classes were cut half an hour short on account of the arrival of the delegations from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute. This meant there wouldn't be enough time for Professor McGonagall to turn me into a hedgehog when I make her mad in Transfiguration.

But it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. When the bell rang early to end class, I walked down to the Slytherin common room with Adelia to drop off our bags. Snape came to line us up and I got squished between her and Nott. I took a peek a little further up the line where Pansy had latched herself onto Draco's arm and was sucking up to him. I couldn't actually hear what Pansy was saying to him but I bet it was something stupid.

"You know, Malfoy would never seriously consider someone like Pansy. He only likes her attention but he'll get over it. So stop worrying about them; he'll come around." Nott's voice came from behind me.

I gave him a puzzled look; since when did he know?

"I can just tell," He replied, "You and Malfoy would make a good couple."  
>"I'm really scared now," However, it felt nice to hear someone say that. "You're a Slytherin, Nott. That seems strangely out of character."<p>

"We're not heartless…at least not to people in our own house."

I had just enough time to smile and say "thanks," before Snape filed us outside into the entryway.

After the Beauxbatons and the Durmstrang lot both made their own dramatic entrances, everybody headed inside for the feast. They had decorated the Great Hall apparently trying to impress the other schools. The four grand tables had been polished until you could almost see your reflection on the surface and the staff table looked pretty spiffy itself as well. Four banners with the different House crests on it now hung from the ceiling.

"Good evening! I would like to welcome our students, the staff, but most particularly, our guests! I hope your stay at Hogwarts is comfortable and pleasant." Dumbledore waved his arms at the food now appearing on the tables, "The tournament will officially be open after our delicious feast! Enjoy!"

"Wow," Adelia said, who was sitting next to me, "this is the best food that we've ever had here."

I took a bite and instantly agreed, "Guess we wanted to make a good first impression."

It automatically got boring after Dumbledore mentioned the rule that you would have to be 17 to enter; it didn't apply to me anymore so I didn't want to hear the rest of it. And of course, he even put an ageline around the Goblet of Fire.

"Bummer, really. I wanted to enter." Adelia told me as we walked back to the Slytherin common room.

I shrugged, "Well, I think someone from Slytherin should enter. Plus, it still seems entertaining to watch, I guess."

"Rayna!" The next morning I woke up to pretty violent shaking. "Get your lazy ass out of the bed!"

"What," I exclaimed, groggily forcing my eyes open, "are you doing here?" I finished after I locked eyes with Draco. "Uhm, this is the girls' dorm, you know?"

"I know but Moody wants us in detention now."

"That's not until later tonight." I said.

"Actually, when Moody said detention at 8 on Saturday, he meant 8 in the morning."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I went down to eat breakfast early today when Moody found me and ordered me to detention. Then, he told me my first task was to find you."

I groaned and pulled the blanket higher until it was over my head. "I don't want to be found."

Suddenly, my blanket was ripped entirely off of me. "Come on!" Draco prompted, getting frustrated.

"Fine," I sat up in my bed, but didn't move any further, "but I want to sleep." I complained, yawning.

"Oh, would you just!" Draco grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me up and out, on the way up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. I was still in my pajamas and half-asleep.

"There you are!" Moody bellowed as soon as we walked in, "Sure took you long enough; 6 minutes!"

Draco opened his mouth to say something but Moody ignored him and continued, "Anyways, it seems my room has gotten dusty, don't you think?"

"No," I automatically replied.

"Well, too bad. I think so. I need the tables and windows to be wiped down, those books over there," Moody gestured to a pile of books in the corner, "need to be stacked on that bookshelf." He pointed across the room towards a half-empty bookshelf. Then he added, "Alphabetically, of course. Also, those paintings need to be hung up where the hooks are in the wall. And the clock in the back corner needs to be rewound; it's two hours and 3 minutes behind."

I groaned as soon as Moody left the room and shut the door behind him. However a second later he reappeared, "I forgot, no magic allowed. Give me your wands."

I felt for my wand but then I realized I was still wearing my pajamas and I had left it in my dorm. "I don't even have mine." So Moody only took Draco's wand.

"I'll do the tables and you can do the windows?" I said.

"Bossy, much?" Draco smirked.

"You're the one who dragged me down here." I pointed out, and threw a rag at him I'd found on the front-most desk. "Have a bucket of soapy water," I handed him one of the two buckets also on the desk.

He sighed in resignation, "Fine; let's just get this over with."

After cleaning all the tables, I started tinkering with the clock. As I was trying to wind it, I must've set some kind of enchantment off or something because the hands started to go all crazy. They kept spinning around and around, then would stop suddenly, go counterclockwise, stop again, and then rewind again.

"Stop it, clock!" I hissed. I banged it hard with the palm of my hand and it clock's hands came to a jagged stop at 8:31. I breathed a sigh of relief and replaced it on the wall.

"What did you do?" Draco asked, from across the room where he'd just finished the windows. He tossed the rag back into the bucket, only to miss.

"Nice shot," I pointed out.

"Just hang up the pictures!" He said, bending down to pick up his missed throw and slapping it into the bucket.

"And I was the bossy one," I murmured to myself, taking a closer look at the pictures. They were all piled together, leaning against the wall. The one on the top was a painting of a man in clothes that were just too vivid for him. His shirt was a bright orange with a neon green collar and golden yellow buttons. He had also donned a hat that was bright red and had a white feather sticking out of it.

I frowned at the picture until it spoke, "Oi! What are you staring at me for?"

"What is wrong with you?" I blurted out, the bright colors of his attire starting to blind me.

"Why, absolutely nothing! You know, back in my day, I was one of the noblest aurors! They called me-"

"Look, I really don't care. I'm just here to hang you up, okay?" I hung Sir Arrogant in the front of the room where I wouldn't be sitting…ever.

The next painting was of a lady dressed in a pink, poofy dress. I didn't know who she was but I didn't like the fact that I was surrounded by a bunch of fashion misfits. However, she wasn't annoying, only mentioning that she would like a spot next to a window.

There was one more portrait and it was another man, but much older than Sir Arrogant. "Hello, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be hung up in the back over there."

"Fine then," I said, carrying him to the back and plopping him onto the wall.

"You know, I just so happen to have written your textbook. I am Quentin Trimble."

"Oh, really? No one cares; you cursed us with a textbook." I scoffed, and then left him in the corner.

The last picture was a painting of a battlefield; there were lots of wizards and witches fighting. You could even see the lines of blue, green, and red jets where spells were being fired. It was bigger than the other portraits and I had a harder time trying to pick it up.

_Well, this is extremely heavy and I'm not sure where I can hang it. _

"Here, let me help." Draco appeared and took it off my hands.

"Hang it on the opposite wall, would you?" I asked, dusting off my hands. I watched him as he put it up, "Wow, that is the first thing you've done for me in a…well, ever."

Draco shrugged, "I just want to get out of here. Hour's almost up."

Moody burst through the door just as Draco finished his sentence. "Now, this place is looking much better!" His magical eye swiveled around to the portraits and the stacked books that Draco had put together, to the clean windows and the clean tables too. I wondered what life looked like to Moody through that crazy, glass eye. "Since we have roughly two more minutes of detention, I'm going to give you a long-term assignment. I want you two to write me an essay about the Unforgivable Curses; one page. Now, off you go!"

Draco and I were heading back to the Slytherin common room when Warrington, a hunky 6th year who was one of Slytherin's chasers last year, stopped us. "Guess what?"

"What?" Draco asked.

"I am officially the first Slytherin to have entered the tournament."

"When did you enter?" I said.

"Did it last night after everybody had gone up to bed."

"Nice," I replied, "Do you think you'll get picked?"

"How could I not? I can take on anything."

"Sure, just like that bludger that hit you in the face and you fainted." Draco pointed out, "And that was only during practice."

"That's different. I'm sure the Triwizard Tournament tasks aren't very hard. I mean, they said they had to make it easier, right? So no one would get hurt?"

"I still think you're a little in over your head, Warrington. Dumbledore said they'd be extremely challenging either way." Draco answered.

Warrington started to protest just as I saw Jos down the hallway. I interrupted him, "Hey, I got to go. See ya guys later!"

Draco caught on first, "Going to see Reinhardt, aren't you?"

"Leave it, Draco," I snapped, "Jos is my best friend."

Once I had walked some distance away from the two boys, I heard Warrington say, "That girl is not right in the head."

I whirled around, "I am perfectly right in the head!"

They both snickered and turned down another corridor, out of sight.


	6. Chapter 6

Okay, so this chapter moves along pretty quickly…and yeah…awkward. Anyways, hope you like it! As always, read and review! :D

**6: Ohmygod.**

After my last detention with Moody, the school year slipped into autumn without too much other drama. Well, of course besides the fact that Harry Potter was chosen as the fourth champion for the Triwizard Tournament. It annoyed me, I have to admit seeing as Harry was never one of my favorite people. I found the whole "the boy who lived" thing overrated; he got way too much attention for his own good.

Anyways, today had been the trip to Hogsmeade. It was actually quite chilly outside, with terrible winds, so I just decided to buy myself a butterbeer and sat down at an empty table in the Three Broomsticks Inn.

It wasn't long before Draco came and joined me, his own cup of butterbeer in his left hand and something that looked like a pin in the other, "I have something to show you."

"What is it?" I said, warily.

"A bunch of us made these the other night for the upcoming task in the tournament," Draco passed me the thing he had been holding in his right hand. I had been right in that it was a pin. In red luminous letters, it spelled out the words: SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY – THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION.

"Interesting…" I said, picking it up.

"Wait, that's not all it does," Draco reached for it again and pushed the surface of the pin until the message vanished to be replaced with a different one in green glowing letters: POTTER STINKS.

I laughed, "Well, they're impressive."

"Want one?" Draco offered it to me.

"I don't know…" I admitted.

"Why not?" He tempted, pushing the pin closer to me.

"I don't think Jos would let me," I confessed, forcing a light laugh.

Draco scowled, "Since when was this about Reinhardt?"

"She's just…"

"Yeah, I get it. She's your 'best friend.' But if you haven't noticed, she's just another pathetic Gryffindor and she's changing you!" Draco threw the pin down angrily on the table and stormed out. There was a silence as people stared but no one dared ask questions. Then, just as abruptly, all the chatter resumed. Draco and I had already been forgotten.

I bent down to pick up the POTTER STINKS badge that had clattered to the ground. I turned it over and over in my hands as Draco's words started to sink in, making me feel a little empty. Was he right? I mean, Jos really didn't approve of half the antics I pulled, even if it was as simple as wearing a POTTER STINKS badge. And she did hurt my reputation, especially with Draco.

"Why do you have one of those?" Came the sharp voice of Jos, as if on cue.

"Oh, hey there." I said softly, not even bothering to answer her question or look up.

"What's wrong?" She asked, momentarily forgetting about the pin.

"I-I don't know." I answered, meeting her gaze for the first time. Suddenly, it did feel wrong to talk to her. "I have to go."

"Wait, Rayna-" But I was already out the door. I didn't stop or slow down until I was back at Hogwarts, down in my own dorm. Taking the POTTER STINKS badge, I pinned it onto the curtain of my bed. Its green letters glowed particularly bright in the dimly lit room. I smiled half-heartedly before retreating up to the common room.

I had been avoiding Jos for a week now by the time November 24 came, where everybody gathered down in the fields where the Quidditch pitch usually was. You could feel the rising levels of excitement and anxiety for the first task to begin. There was talk everywhere about what the champions would have to do. Finally, it was confirmed that the task would be dragons; to get past the dragons and grab the golden egg. Of course, these dragons would be ferocious since they're nesting mothers, ever so protective of their real eggs.

As soon as Cedric stepped out into the field with a Swedish Short-Snout, cheering erupted from the crowd. The first thing he did was transfigure a rock into a dog. The dragon was distracted briefly. But eventually, it made up its mind that Cedric was the bigger threat, him having inched too close towards the eggs. The dragon breathed out fire at him. A collective gasp gathered from the crowd as Cedric leapt sideways. Once the dragon calmed down again and the flames evaporated, Cedric emerged from the nest with the golden egg in his hand. Immediately, the dragon was restrained and in that same moment, everyone cheered. Especially the Hufflepuffs. What spirit.

The Beauxbatons girl went next. I didn't know what charm she was using but it seemed to lull her dragon into drowsiness. It did fall asleep but then it started snoring. Every time it breathed out, fire shot out of its nostrils and ended up setting Fleur's skirts on fire. She was able to put it out with a little water and grabbed the egg right before the dragon woke up.

Krum went after. He shot a hex and it hit the dragon straight in the eye. It went mad, breathing out snorts of fire, and stomping around. I figured sooner or later it was going to crush Krum but instead, it crushed its eggs. I mean the real ones. The golden egg was still standing and Krum took the chance to grab it.

And at last, it was Harry's turn. I watched him raise his wand and mutter an incantation but of course, I wasn't close enough to hear what it was. Either way, nothing seemed to be happening. I smirked, another spell failed by Potter. But then I heard the whistle in the breeze. I looked up to see a broomstick flying through the sky into Harry's hand. He flew circles around the dragon, did crazy dives and feints, until he was just able to grab the golden egg with his outstretched hand. Cheering erupted from the stands, cheering that was louder even after Cedric succeeded.

"Wow, I don't believe it. Potter's actually done it." I murmured to myself.

"Who would've known?" Nott said from next to me.

Soon, excitement for the first task turned into excitement for the Yule Ball. I happened to be in Charms with Professor Flitwick when it was first announced.

"Class, class, pipe down! You have not been dismissed yet! I have wonderful news for all of you!"

Some of us groaned, wanting nothing more than to go to lunch. I, myself, was pretty hungry too.

"Now, with the Triwizard Tournament comes another thrilling event: the Yule Ball!" Conversation immediately overshadowed Professor Flitwick's tiny voice. "Wait, wait! Stop talking! I'm not finished!" He squeaked, "It will take place on Christmas Day and starts promptly at 8 PM. So…er, learn to dance, find your partners, and I hope you have a wonderful time! Class dismissed!"

"I think Flitwick's just upset because he'll never find somebody as small as he is," I whispered to Adelia, who was sitting next to me.

"Who knows? Love has ways." She replied, with a dreamy look in her eyes that told me she was probably thinking of that guy she wanted to go with. "And I bet you want to go with Malfoy."

I scoffed, "Isn't it obvious?"

A week later, and no one's asked me but Crabbe. And I didn't want to go with him. After finishing my breakfast that day, I started heading to the library because I had a massive essay to write for History of Magic and I wanted to check out a book before going to class.

"Are you saying someone asked the Mudblood to the ball? You've got to be kidding me!" I stopped right outside the library, my hand on the door about to push it open, only paused by Draco's voice.

"Like you've actually got someone to go with, Malfoy." I heard Hermione retort. "You're just a twitchy, jealous ferret."

"Psh, like it matters. I can get a date anytime I want." I could see his smug face in my mind.

"Oh yeah, let's see you try!" Ron demanded.

Abruptly, after hearing that, I pushed the door to the library open, not wanting to stick around and watch Malfoy ask some random girl to the Yule Ball. I knew he wouldn't be asking me since we hadn't talked as much as we usually do in this week, ever since our little row in The Three Broomsticks. I had one foot in the library, the other in midair, so close to getting away but then I heard the words, "Hey Rayna!"

I whirled around and Draco was standing right in front of me, much closer than I had expected. My breath caught in my throat and I stumbled backwards a little, "Huh? What, me?"

"Are you not Rayna?" He remarked.

"Oh yeah, uhm…sorry. I'm just really…tired."

"Anyways, you're going to the Yule Ball with me. So see you at 8?"

The level of happiness in my heart just magically escalated so high until it broke the meter. However, on the outside, I chose to remain calm. I smirked, "Sure, Draco." Then I disappeared into the library, shut the door, and sank into a sitting position against it with the most idiotic smile on my face.

From inside the library, I heard the muffled taunt of Draco, "Told you it was easy. Well, for me. Potter and Weasel-be need a lot of work." He mocked, before I heard him sauntering off with Crabbe and Goyle.

"Miss Alma, are you…okay?" Madam Pince loomed over me, looking concerned.

"Oh, I'm fine." I muttered, feeling my cheeks heat up a little. I picked myself up and started my search for a book before I ended up late for class. I was scanning the shelves when I saw the book _Goblin Rebellions: 1600-1701_. As I pulled it out the shelf, I felt someone grab my elbow. "What the-" I started only to be cut off.

"Have you been avoiding me?" Jos claimed.

I pulled my elbow back, "No, I haven't." I lied.

"Don't lie; I'm your best friend, I can always tell when you lie."

"Okay, fine. I've been avoiding you, happy?"

"Absolutely not. Why are you avoiding me?"

"I don't know. They say Slytherin has a bad reputation for being mean sometimes." I shrugged.

"No, they don't. I mean, they do but that's not the real reason."

"Look, forget it, okay? I'm talking to you now, aren't I? I have to go, before I'm late to class."

"You won't be." Jos pressed on, "Tell me what's going on."

I gave in, sighed, and told her about that trip to Hogsmeade.

"How could you ever think being friends with me was wrong?" She said, disbelief in her eyes.

"Well, Draco was-"

"You know, lately, all you've ever talked about or brought up was Malfoy. You're so obsessive about him; it's like you don't have time for anyone else. You even let him convince you that we shouldn't be friends. You know we've been best friends since your first year and because of Malfoy, you're just going to throw it all away? I can't believe you! I know you're mean by nature; I just never thought you'd ever stoop that low. Guess I was wrong and I guess this day was always coming; I was just too stupid to see it."

As Jos marched off, I felt unbelievably cold and that empty feeling in my heart from back in the Three Broomsticks reopened and filled my mind. Suddenly, nothing, not even going to the Yule Ball with Draco mattered. I had just lost Jos, the first person to ever understand and "get" me.


End file.
